


The Ties That Bind

by DMichelleWrites



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-28
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-03 17:43:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5300762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DMichelleWrites/pseuds/DMichelleWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver, Felicity, and Dig sacrifice so much to keep Star City safe. Things have changed from engagements to life-changing accidents, but they always find the ties that bind them together as more than a team, but a family</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dark Waters & Another Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of engagements, mayoral campaigns, Damien kidnaps Team Arrow and changes Felicity's life forever. But, Oliver and Felicity always manage to find another way together.

            Oliver heard a struggling grunt, and he knew if he tried to his fiancé that it would just result in another argument. She saw the shadow he cast over her, and it was like since their engagement her world was surrounded by darkness at the time. It’d all seemed rather fast to her, but to him this question was two months overdue. The one night he’d left his mother’s ring in that little decorative bowl of clear marbles. But, he just couldn’t wait anymore. They were walking out of his campaign office hand-in-hand as he saw his staff surrounding the building for their holiday party.

            He thought, “Maybe there’s less of a chance that she won’t say no in front of all these people. ‘Will you marry me?’ I stopped Slade. I saved the city multiple times. Why is it so difficult to ask one simple…scratch that, life-changing question?”

“Oliver!" Felicity yelled as she gently squeezed his hand, “Honey! We’re going to be late, and you have a speech to make. I know this is last minute, but just speak from the heart. I guarantee you’ll win them over.”

She softly patted his chest, and whispered, “Relax." His heart was beating a million times faster than the internet connection they had in Bali.

“Felicity.” he exhaled, “There’s something I have to do first.”

“Oliver, I told you we don’t have time.” She noticed he dropped on one knee, but maybe he had to tie his shoe? She couldn’t read too much into this, right?

“Felicity, I love you.” Oliver finally asked, “Will you marry me?”

She gasped as if she needed to inhale some oxygen in order for what he had just asked her to really register in her brain.

“Hon, you’re uncharacteristically quiet. I mean, that’s usually not a good sign, but you’re not doing that crinkly thing with your eyebrows. I can’t believe I forgot...” He babbled nervously.

Felicity knelled down on both of her knees in front of him, and answered with a quiet, but confident, “Yes.”

Oliver nodded back in response to see if he heard her correctly. She smiled at him and mouthed yes again. They rose to their feet as his campaign staff clapped and cheered around them. That night was the first night of Hanukkah, and he wasn’t Jewish. But his girl—no, his fiancé was Jewish, and under all the fairy lights this was one of the best holiday presents he had ever gotten. They smiled into a quick, but romantic kiss as they finally entered the brightly decorated office. She sort of wished they weren’t surrounded by all these people, so things could really heat up. But, they had a job to do, and Felicity wasn’t funding Oliver’s campaign for nothing. He was just supposed to muster one little rousing speech, and then he and Felicity could head into the limo to go home.

When they finally relaxed a bit after two months of worrying about stopping Damien Darhk is when he decided to hit Oliver where it hurt the most--his heart. Oliver, Felicity, John, and Thea had all gotten in the limo happily listening to _“Little Drummer Boy”_. Sounds of darts quickly whizzed by cutting through the cold, night air and piercing two of their tires. Despite Oliver and John’s efforts to take the wheel and control the direction of the limo, the four of them all took a horrendous tumble into Starling Bay. The crash into the water had rendered Oliver temporarily unconscious. In the midst of that, Damien and his Ghosts had managed to capture John, Thea, and Felicity. Without his team, Oliver went through a mixture of emotions. Even when Curtis was able to help John and Thea escape Darhk’s prison, Damien had tucked Felicity away somewhere else.

            They had checked several warehouses that the ghosts had hit over the next few weeks. Oliver didn’t sleep at all. He barely ate anything. The emotional toll he dealt with in the weeks when Felicity was missing was almost worse than what he had experienced on the island. He went through waves of pain, sadness, desperation, and more. In his days during the early stages of his traumatic island aftermath, Oliver had told Felicity he had never wanted anyone to see him as broken, and throughout the years he had been willing to sacrifice himself in order to save his city and its people from this Hell on multiple occasions. But when the love of life was taken from him, Oliver felt that the parts of himself he had rediscovered when he was with Felicity were slowly disappearing along with their chances of finding her alive.

            Curtis, who was surprised to learn the truth that Oliver was, in fact, the Green Arrow, was more than willing to help save his friend. There was a glimmer of hope when Curtis had discovered a small faction of ghosts gathering at a warehouse near Penny Town to get computer chips from one of Kord Industries’ facilities.

Curtis told him, “Oliver, I have a lock on Felicity’s location. Take a look at the security cam footage outside of this Kord Industries warehouse on Jordan Avenue.”

They saw a group of ghosts entering the warehouse with one, in particular, carrying a large blue body bag like a potato sack over his shoulder. When they zoomed in on the footage, Team Arrow had caught sight of a familiar, unconscious blonde head poking out from the opening of the bag. He didn’t know if she was even alive, but one thing he knew was that the Green Arrow was going to make anyone that stood in his way pay for what they had done to Felicity.

            All it took was for Oliver to emit a low angry growl for Thea to say, “Ollie, we’ll get her back, but we need a plan first.”

Oliver abruptly replied, “I’ve waited long enough, Speedy. Here’s the plan, you, Laurel, and Dig watch over Curtis, Captain Lance, and Donna, I’ll go to the warehouse.”

Dig put a hand on Oliver’s shoulder as he was about to suit up, “Look man, I know what you’re going through, and I know you think that this is your fault. But, you can’t do this alone. He wanted you to see her, so this is clearly a trap. Do we even know how many ghosts at this warehouse?”

Curtis answered, “According to thermal scans, at least, ten.”

“Oliver,” Dig tried again, echoed only by Thea’s plea of, “Ollie, please”

“It’s Felicity.” He reminded them as he gathered his quiver, bow, and arrows.

They knew then there was absolutely no getting through to him. Oliver had gone way over sixty on his Ducati. He fended off several ghosts at a time with a few mere punches and kicks. There was one idiot, who other than Andy and Alex seemed to one of Darhk’s right hand men. This ghost had a spear-like electrical staff, so it took a bit longer for the Green Arrow to handle this one. After the Green Arrow had gained the upper hand, it took a hard kick and shove against a large crate for the Green Arrow to gain information on exactly where Felicity was being held. But, all ghosts were trained to remain silent no matter how harsh the circumstances, so Oliver electrocuted the ghost until he talked and was eventually of no more use to him. Oliver had vowed to never kill again, but when it came to Felicity he had no choice.

The Green Arrow had practically sprinted his way to Felicity’s location. When he saw his fiancé beaten, broken, barely breathing, and chained up to a post like an old weathered scarecrow, a sense of unbridled rage coursed through every fiber of his body. Darhk was beyond powerful and evident by the things he had seen and heard from John Constantine, this seemed like a losing battle. But, after taking several blows just as Damien got close to Felicity’s body, Oliver remembered the special magical parting gift John had transferred onto him when they met on the island. He spoke a dead language in order to use the powers in his tattoo to fend off Darhk.

Without saying a word, he unchained Felicity from the post and carried her body outside to Lyla and John, who were waiting above them with a chopper from ARGUS while Darhk and his ghosts were trying to recover from the Green Arrow’s onslaught of attacks.

Felicity’s pulse was weak, but it was there. John had used all the medical training he had learned while serving in the army to keep her alive and breathing. If Darhk wanted to kill Felicity he would have, but that wasn’t the way he played the game. Damien knew the first step in leveling Star City to the ground was by taking down its greatest hero, and to do that he wanted to cause the Green Arrow complete and utter pain. Though, now that wasn’t Oliver’s focus.

“Honey, you’re safe. I’m here now.” Oliver whispered in reassurance to her almost as if he was trying to convince himself as well, “Felicity, stay with me.” He silently kissed his fiance’s hand, which was covered in numerous cuts and gashes all while he blamed himself for letting something bad happen to her.

            As they touched the ground of Starling General, doctors ran off a list of her multiple injuries. They rushed her into the hospital. The only few words Oliver could get in edgewise were, “No! I’m not leaving her again.” Then when the doctor had reassured him that they would do everything they could, he breathed out an “I love you.” Even though, she couldn’t respond, he just had to sit and wait for her. Lyla had always kept Oliver and John’s civilian clothes nearby her, especially if missions ran all throughout the night. They had changed quickly on their way to the hospital, Lyla and Dig were kind enough to sit with Oliver in the waiting room until Thea had arrived later with Donna.

            “Oliver, check the pocket of your jacket.” Lyla instructed while she carefully sat on John’s lap to stretch out her legs.

Oliver had reached into the inside pocket of his leather jacket and felt the cool metal of his mother’s ring graze his fingertips.

“The ring will be on Felicity’s finger soon enough.” John said with a reassuring smile. “Plus, that’s a better hiding spot than a bowl of marbles.”

Oliver shot a small smile back to them as a thank you. He’d figured Thea couldn’t keep that secret too long, so of course, she had to tell John and Lyla.

Nurses had wheeled Felicity's bed in the recovery room when the doctor was able to tell Oliver the state of Felicity’s condition. Thea had just arrived at the hospital with Donna, who was confused, saddened, distraught all at once. Thea hadn’t breathed a word to Donna that Oliver was the Green Arrow, but at the moment that didn’t matter because both Oliver and Donna needed to hear the news about their girl was doing.

“Are you her mother?” The doctor had asked Donna. She nodded with a quick yes. Donna had grabbed Oliver’s hand tightly as they entered Felicity’s hospital room.

Upon seeing her daughter sedated and hooked up to several beeping machines, Donna softly cried, “Baby.” Oliver grabbed a chair and a tissue box for her as the doctor explained the state of Felicity’s injuries.

“We were able to suture the minor cuts and abrasions to Ms. Smoak’s body, but I’m afraid the fractures to her spine caused some permanent damage,” the doctor explained.

Donna questioned worriedly, “What do you mean by permanent damage?”

The doctor continued,“Ms. Smoak will be paralyzed from the waist down. The medication we gave her helps sedate her and stave off the pain, but not to worry by this time tomorrow, she’ll be awake and we’ll go from there. Adapting to life as a paraplegic won’t be easy, but if I may be frank your daughter is very lucky to even be alive. If ARGUS hadn’t had saved her, I’d probably have much worse news to give both of you. Paralysis is not a death sentence, but it is quite the life change. I can give you two sometime alone with Ms. Smoak to discuss things before visiting hours are over.”

Oliver was hit with another barrage of questions from Donna, so he had to tell what his and Felicity’s other jobs were in Star City. They help protect hundreds of thousands of citizens each night. They cried together after seeing the pain it had caused Felicity. Donna was understandably angry at both Oliver and Felicity for keeping this huge secret from her. Though, Donna rationalized that maybe they both did that to protect her. Her anger and worry about Oliver and Felicity would now always be with her in the back of her mind, especially when she went home to Las Vegas. But, the blow of that news was softened by the sense of pride she had for both of them and the good that they do each night. And, when she had heard Oliver was officially going to become her son-in-law, her excitement almost quelled her fear and anger.

When Felicity had woken up the next night, it was almost like she was a mourning a loss of someone. When her father Noah left her and mother when Felicity was seven, she could dole out her anger onto him, but with her body in a forever debilitating state, she felt angry at herself and her body because of what she couldn’t do anymore. She hated feeling helpless. She hated even more that she felt like a weak spot for Oliver. She didn’t want to be his weakness or his hindrance. She wanted to continue to be his partner in his life, his work, and his mission She needed to be his hope, strength, inspiration, and light. In Oliver’s mind, as the weeks went by, she would always be all that goodness and more to him.

He was more cautious and protective of Felicity on missions, even though he started to train her. She couldn’t use her legs, but her brain and her hands were keys in keeping her safe. Oliver was so protective of her that he first had Curtis install a tracer in Felicity’s engagement ring. Then he had asked Curtis to trick out her simple wheelchair to become a mobile computing and weapons system for her. She was so impressed by Curtis’ work, but it was the little things that got to her. When Oliver picked her up off the floor as he entered their home, she tiredly lashed out at him due to frustration and guilt.

“Mmm…Oliver, no. Stop helping me,” Felicity protested as she tiredly attempted to crawl back to her wheelchair before he got to her, “I’ve got it.”

He kissed her hair, and sat her down on the couch with him instead, “You’ve had a long day. Palmer Tech and a two hour training session with Dig can make even me want to call it a night.”

“I’m sorry” She began to say, “I hate feeling a like a bur…” Oliver put a finger to Felicity’s lips.

“Felicity” He interrupted, “I’ve told you multiple times it’s not a burden when it’s someone you love, and that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy, so can we not do our recent usual ‘I’m sorry’ dance, and skip ahead to do you want chicken matzah ball soup for dinner?”

She replied, “Yes, but is that blood on your face? Oliver…”

“Would you believe that it’s barbecue sauce?”

“Oliver, you’re a horrible liar, ” she sighed, “We’ve been over this before, Hon. ORACLE gets included on every mission.”

“I know, Honey. I know, and I’ll tell you all about it later. If you weren’t asleep, I wouldn’t have asked Mr. Terrific to fill in for you.”

She complained with her hands on her hips, “You already gave Curtis a code name after 5 missions. It took me nearly four years to get ORACLE.”

“Um” Oliver paused as he washed his face, “But, I love you, so let’s not talk about this later. There’s something else we need to discuss.”

“Like?” Felicity prompted.

“The wedding and all the mundane things that go along with it-the venue, the flowers, the cake,” Oliver listed off each idea with a kiss on her neck.

“Don’t you sound so excited now.” She teased, “I just worry about how we’re going to explain to our guests why there may be an unexpected evil guy in attendance. And, don’t you think you can distract me so eas..ah…ily okay” Felicity let out this deliriously happy sigh as he sucked on her neck.

“Don’t worry” He broke away for a brief moment to comfort her, “There’s Dig, Lyla, Cisco, Barry, Curtis, Sara, Thea, Laurel, Carter, Kendra, me, and even Ray there to keep watch over things.”

She reminded him as he continued kissing her, “Dinner?”

“You know,” he whispered as he scooped her off the couch, “It’s been over six weeks if we’re really careful, I think you and I can…”

She interrupted with a hint of worry in her voice, “It won’t be like it was before the accident.”

“Yeah, it’ll be different, but I might’ve asked your doctor a few questions about that, so hopefully it won’t be that much of a difference.”

She lightly swatted his chest as a bright red flush hotly ghosted over her cheeks, “Oliver, I can’t believe you asked her that.”

“Shh…” He silenced her with a kiss right on the lips. He carried her up to their room as a trail of his leather jacket, his denim shirt, and her zippered dress, and her suede boots among other clothes were left scattered behind them.

Sex was certainly different, but still amazing. He treated Felicity much more delicately than before. She could see how Oliver gentle he was being with her. Everything from the way he laid her down on their bed with a pillow for her back, to the way held her, kissed her, touched her showed that their emotional connection during times like these was stronger than ever. Their physical connection wasn’t exactly the same, but it was still intense, passionate, sexy, and loving. As much pain as Felicity’s accident had caused them, it had made them closer. They loved each now more than ever, or so they thought that until months later when they had officially become Mr. Oliver Jonas and Mrs. Felicity Megan Queen. They were always good at finding another way together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Family Ties Unchained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity rediscovers family as secrets come to light and her father returns in search of ORACLE.

            Felicity moved her fern away from the window in her office, and then she perused Curtis’ schematics for something he called the T-Spheres. Her stomach growled as Oliver walked into her office.

“You’re married. He’s straight. You’re married. He’s straight. You’re married. He’s straight.” Curtis had to mutter that to himself every single time Oliver walked into the room.

Though, who wouldn’t be taken aback by that handsome face, arms twice the size of Barry Allen’s arms all dressed up nicely in a white button up shirt, green tie, and dark blue jeans that fit him better than the Green Arrow’s leather pants. In Curtis’ fantasy, Oliver was like a gorgeous Christmas present, but Felicity had already got him for this Hanukkah, and every other Hanukkah after that.

Felicity cleared her throat while giving Curtis a quick flash of her engagement ring, “And, taken.”

“Hey Hon.” Oliver greeted Felicity with a kiss on the lips, “Since we have no food at home, do you want to grab a bite to eat at Big Belly Burger?”

“Yes. I’m starving. Curtis, I’ll be back in an hour, okay?”

Curtis nodded and sputtered out, “Bye,” after Oliver simply shook his hand, and complemented him on his work for Felicity.

It’d been a few months since Curtis found out that Oliver was the Green Arrow and since he helped save Felicity from Darhk. Life had never been the same for Felicity since the limo accident left her paralyzed. She went through her ups and downs, but Oliver was always right there by her side supporting her every step of the way. Things were different and a lot had changed, but not all of those changes were bad. As much as it made them feel like those sitting ducks people shoot at in carnivals, Oliver and Felicity had finally had the chance to feel like a “normal” couple—Well, their version of a normal couple since Darhk was quietly plotting in the shadows. Things were so quiet, Dig and Lyla took a trip to Central City to capture a guy in group A.R.G.U.S. dubbed as the Suicide Squad.

“Felicity, we have to meet Stephanie at nine tomorrow morning for the cake tasting,” Oliver reminded her when she wheeled her chair up in the truck.

Felicity wasn’t sure she wanted to make a big fuss about the wedding, but with constant prodding from her mother and Oliver’s reassurance that things would go smoothly because most of their guests take down evil guys for a living, she gave in a little to the idea. Stephanie Ricci was an up and coming wedding planner around Oliver’s age that they had met months prior while traveling in Positano.

“Okay.” Felicity said to him while lazily reaching for his free hand across the dashboard. Her stomach growled again

He laughed, “Sounds like someone’s in the mood for a burger with turkey bacon, fries, and a Coke.” She smiled at him. Felicity wondered for a second if things like that made her too predictable and boring. But, on the other hand, she loved how well her fiancé knew her.

They sat a table close by the door in a comfortable silence while Carly, Dig’s sister-in-law, was getting their drinks.

Carly brought Felicity a Coke and Oliver a water when Felicity’s hand trembled while picking up her soda resulting a messy and sticky spill all over their table.

Felicity gasped embarrassedly, “Oops! I’m sorry, Carly. Let me get that.”

“No, no.” Carly said to her, “It’s my job, unfortunately for AJ.” Felicity had already grabbed a wet dishrag that was just place on a nearby counter to clean up her own mess.

Oliver asked, “Why’s that unfortunate for him?”

Carly sighed, “A couple of his friends at school got some new toys for Christmas, and I just couldn’t afford all that. I try, but I think he’s becoming more and more embarrassed by the fact that I’m a just a waitress. I mean, I’m even embarrassed by it sometimes being around you two. Felicity, you’re the CEO of a multibillion dollar company, and Oliver, you’re running for mayor.”

“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re hardworking. You put a roof over his head, and pay the bills.” Oliver reassured her.

“Yeah.” Felicity agreed, “I mean, when I was his age I felt like that too. My mother’s been working as a cocktail waitress in Vegas since I was born. But, then I realized how hard she worked. She helped me pay my tuition each semester at MIT, and even with the scholarship and odd tutoring jobs, that was still tough. My dad was never around, and he never paid my mom a dime in a child support, which is why I learned to really appreciate her.”

Oliver wasn’t the only one with secrets or a difficult, and it may have seemed odd to some people for a person to open up like that in a public restaurant. But, Carly wasn’t a stranger, and she definitely looked like she could use a pep talk.

Carly commented as she ran back to the kitchen, “Oh frack, we’ve been talking so long, I forgot to pick up your order. Luckily it’s been a really slow day.” Slow was an understatement. It was strange, Big Belly Burger was usually packed during the lunch hour, but Oliver and Felicity were only a handful of people in there.

As Carly left, Oliver smiled as his hand gently rubbed Felicity’s back, he and kissed her slowly on the lips again.

“Not that I’m complaining” Felicity smiled back at him, “But, what was that for?”

Oliver told her, “That was really sweet of you, and I know your dad isn’t exactly your favorite subject.”

They were finally able to eat their lunch, and when they were driving back to Palmer Tech, Felicity decided to check the messages on her phone, which had been acting up again. She knew it wasn’t Ray, who decided to work in Central City for a little while, and it had better not be Curtis trying to prank his boss.

“Felicity,” she listened, “I think I’m in trouble, and I need Team Arrow’s help. I’m taking a bus to Star City. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Felicity instantly recognized that voice as Roy Harper as well as the number from the burned phone she gave him when he left to save Oliver from imprisonment or worse.

While they were waiting at a traffic light, Oliver heard a little sigh from Felicity, and he noticed her eyebrows did that crinkly thing they always did when she was worried, “You alright?”

“Oliver,” Felicity told him, “It’s Roy. He needs our help.”

Oliver said to her, “Call Dig.”

Felicity filled Oliver in the rest of the information. Tires screeched as Oliver made a quick beeline for the Star City bus station while Felicity was on the phone with Dig and Lyla, who would both return later that night.

As they got to the bus station when Oliver spotted Roy in a hoodie and dark sunglasses with a small red backpack, he gestured for him to get in the backseat of the truck. He sprinted to the truck and laid down in the backseat.

“Long time seeing you, scarecrow,” Felicity commented as she could only reach back to pat Roy on the ankle.

“Roy,” Oliver began to ask as they drove to the Arrowcave, “What kind of trouble...”

Roy interrupted, “I can’t tell you here. It’s not safe. I’ll tell you when we get back to the foundry, or the Arrowcave, or whatever the Hell you guys are calling it now.”

She added, “You know he’s right, we really need to pick just one name for the lair.”

“Felicity,” her fiancé warned.

She let an exasperated sigh, and intentionally squeezed Oliver’s hand more tightly than normal. He shot her a look that read, “Hey, sorry, but now’s not the time.”

Felicity pressed a small hidden button the side of their Range Rover’s dashboard while Oliver parked it in the lair.

As they got out of the truck, Roy was astonished at the massive size of the new place.

He looked around at all their new stuff, and whistled, “I leave, and you guys decide to get a massive upgrade. Felicity, this looks way bigger than it did on the tablet you sent me.”

Oliver explained, “One of the benefits of your fiancé inheriting a multibillion dollar company, we have money now.”

“Still, Oliver, how did you do all this?” Roy asked.

Oliver answered simply, “I had help.”

“He had _a lot_ of help,” She reminded her fiancé, “Cisco and STAR labs, and don’t worry, I had some design input, we have an extra polycarbonate case with your old Arsenal suit, I just need to key it to your biometrics.”

“Is that going to hurt?” Roy grimaced, and Felicity laughed with a shake of her head no.

Oliver cleared his throat, “Let’s handle that later. Right now, you have some explaining to do.”

In almost a year that Roy had been gone, he’d been traveling from town to town as a drifter under the name Theo Hayes until Oliver and Felicity had given him their first home together in Ivy Town. He hated the weird suburban neighbors, and when he arrived he wanted to scrub and clean every place he thought Oliver and Felicity had sex on before he was comfortable using, sitting, or sleeping on anything. But, he was just happy he had a consistent place to sleep, and he was no longer running from anyone. That is until about a week ago it had started with strange messages on his phone, money missing from his bank account, and finally a message from a man who called himself the Calculator. He was in search of ORACLE, and despite their communication being secret, the Calculator connected “Theo Hayes” to ORACLE.

Roy had told them that the Calculator had threatened him and his family. But, even more the Calculator claimed he was a master in the field of anything technological, and he could kill anyone in cyberspace with the mere push of button or even make the entire city go dark killing anyone at random.

That made Oliver clearly worried, but Roy wondered, “Why is he so interested in using me to get to Felicity?”

His voice dropped to the low angry tone of the Green Arrow full of grit, “I don’t know, but no one is going to touch you again.” After the pain that Damien Darhk had caused her, Oliver became even more extremely protective of Felicity.

“Wait,” Felicity remembered, “You said the last message he sent was by hacking your tablet on video.”

“Yeah, but it’s completely dark and he used a voice modulator that sounds similar to Oliver’s” Roy told her.

Felicity said, “That’s okay. It’s simple all I need to do is brighten the video footage and adjust the audio and maybe we can run facial recognition.”

She did that in a matter of a few minutes. They able to pull an image and run facial recognition. He looked somewhat familiar to Felicity, but she couldn’t figure out exactly why he did.

“Noah Kuttler,” Oliver read, and as soon as that popped up, their screens went black along with their lights.

Felicity yelled, “Damn it. It’s like our entire system decided to commit suicide.”

“Honey, can get the backup generator, and call Cisco?” She asked him as he was about to do just that when the Calculator brought everything back online, and left Roy another message.

“Three days, Mr. Harper, you have three days. The clock is ticking, the later I get to ORACLE the more people die.”

It wasn’t like the lair could be traced, but neither could the Calculator. Felicity tried everything to track him down, but he was just too damn good. In the past two days, he managed to electrocute and kill two random blonde women in Penny Town and Ivy Town. It didn’t help that she was distracted by why he looked so familiar to her. By the third morning, Felicity decided to look into her suspicions.

“Felicity, what’cha doing?” Oliver asked confusedly as he watched her pluck a hair from her own head. He brought her some French toast and orange juice for breakfast.

She tiredly explained, “Um…I need to check something because people are dying, Oliver. He’s after ORACLE and it’s my fault.”

“He’s not going to get to you,” Oliver promised her again, “You’re not the one murdering people, so you don’t need to think of this _your_ fault.”

She still didn’t see it that way, but then Oliver asked once more, “Why are you running a strand of your hair through a DNA sequencer?”

Felicity bit her lip, and exhaled, “I think the Calculator’s my father.”

Oliver clearly looked taken aback, but he still tried to piece things together. He held her hand in comfort, “I know you said he was in and out of prison. You also said that when he left when you were seven that you didn’t remember much about him, but do you really that he’s your dad?”

“We’ll find out,” she breathed.

Several minutes passed, and the DNA results came back as a match. Felicity hadn’t felt this angry since her accident with Damien. She quickly began looking deeper and deeper into old files. She discovered exactly what his crimes were, how much money he had, and how he never gave her mother a cent of that. All those things had made her angry at her father even more so now than ever before, but there was one file she looked at that made her angry at mother. Felicity had discovered that Donna had changed her birth name from Felicity Megan Kuttler to Felicity Megan Smoak. Smoak was her mother’s name, and Donna had always told her that her and her father had the same last name. The truth of it was that Donna had told her that lie, so she wouldn’t have to deal with the shame of carrying the criminal Kuttler name. Even though, later on Donna couldn’t hide the fact that Noah was a bad man.

In the midst of Felicity’s onslaught of enraged, rhetorical questions about how could her mother not tell and blaming herself for not looking into this sooner, even though she could have a thousand times, Oliver grabbed her hands, and told her, “Felicity! Take a breath. You need to take a break.”

“What?! It’s that kind of delusion that can leave more people dead at the hands of my father, Oliver!” She snapped.

Oliver reminded, “Thea and Dig are out in the field keeping an eye on things while Curtis and Roy are working to track him down. You can’t help anyone like this, so take a break.”

Felicity told him as she got up from the couch and wheeled herself into Thea’s old bedroom, “Fine, Hon. You want to take a break. Excuse me, I need to hit something.” They converted it into a workout area with another salmon ladder, a couple punching bags, and mats on the floor with bow, arrows targets, tennis balls, guns, swords, and kendo sticks.

Oliver told her as he followed her into the room, “Honey that is _not_ what I meant. C’mon.”

Felicity ignored him as she quickly stripped down as fast she could to a green sports bra and black sweatpants. She automatically channeled that anger into a hard, fast, and incorrect rhythm of punches against the bag. If she was able to use her legs, she wished she could use the tips that Sara and Dig taught her, but that clearly wasn’t going to work in her condition.

“Damn it.” She sighed after getting tired and sweaty after twenty minutes.

Oliver told her calmly, “You’re going to bruise your knuckles like that. Use the power and stability from your core to have a better follow through to your arms.”

He tried to adjust her body angle when she angrily shoved him away. “Oliver, I don’t a lesson right now. What I need is to…” She yelled at him.

Oliver finished, “Hit something. Okay, fine. Sparring practice with me.”

She grunted and didn’t pay attention her fiancé stripping down shirtless to just his jeans. Since the accident, times like these would seem like odd, and maybe even abusive to some normal couples. But, most of the time during sparring practice their relationship changed to teacher/student with an occasional use of it as foreplay. It’s certain little moments when Oliver was turned on by how much of a bad ass his future wife could be.

Oliver abruptly wrapped Felicity’s legs around his torso. Granted, he would always tend to go a bit easy on her. His intention was to teach her not hurt her. They hit and blocked each others’ punches until Felicity used her new found upper body strength along with that unbridled anger to pin him harshly against a wall. He shot her a look of pride, and he noticed how tired and out of breath she was now. They were both panting heavily with their foreheads touching, eyes closed, and lips mere centimeters apart from connecting when Oliver noticed she let her guard back down. He smiled, gently pinned her back on the mat, and kissed her hard on the mouth.

“Cheater,” she laughed.

He reminded, “Never let your guard down, Baby. Feel better?”

She nodded as he placed her back in her wheelchair and slid her ring back on her finger right where it always belonged. They took a shower together just to get cleaned up quickly. After that, Dig had texted that Curtis had located the Calculator at Starling National Bank. They had quickly devised a plan to use Felicity as bait, much to Oliver’s dismay. If ORACLE was what the Calculator wanted, ORACLE was what he would get. But, before they had left for Starling National, Oliver felt the need to voice his concerns.

He started to say as he sat down in her chair with Felicity sitting in front of him in his lap, “Felicity, I don’t like the idea of you being there alone.”

“Oliver, I’m not. I have you.” She reminded, initially using his own words against him, “You don’t think I’m nervous every single time you go out into the field.”

Oliver interjected, “No. I know it worries you. It’s just since the…”

She explained, “If you’re willing to take risks like that, so I am because we’re a team, and more importantly than that I believed some crazy guy in a hood that continually showed me, I’m more than a simple IT tech girl.”

He told her, “You’re definitely so much more than. You’re my best friend, my partner, my lo—.” She cringed at almost hearing the word lover. For some reason, it was just one of those words she hated. She just thought it had a creepy connotation. “Sorry, my girl,” he changed.

“I love you.” She told with a kiss on the lips as Roy flickered the lights. If they were this mushy now. He could only imagine how they sickeningly cute and annoying be when they actually got married. He cleared his throat and was about to start looking for a hose.

“You two are at work,” John reminded them.

They said in unison, “Sorry.”

The Calculator knew that she was there.

“Baby,” he greeted creepily.

“Don’t call me that,” Felicity said, “Why did you want to see me Noah?”

“Is that anyway to talk to your father?” He said as he got closer and closer, “I need you to join me, and at my side. Then we can…”

“Really? He’s delivering a monologue?” Roy commented from behind a wall.

Oliver was amused, “He reminds me of the Count.”

Felicity managed to shove her dad in a chair, “Arsenal! Green Arrow, now!”

“Noah Kuttler” The Green Arrow told him before he fired arrows from his bow, “You have failed this city.”

“And your daughter,” Felicity added in a low disgruntled mutter. She was about to push a button on her wheelchair that would activate the arrows to stun him with a low voltage of electrocution. “It would only be enough to stun him,” she reminded herself.

The Green Arrow commanded, “ORACLE don’t!”

His look read, “Honey, he’s not worth it.” She didn’t go with it because she would essentially be doing exactly what he was doing—hurting people.

John walked in for backup with Lance to clean up the scene, and as they left the bank, Felicity thought back to an all too familiar sight from when she was a kid.

“Are you sending him to Iron Heights,” Felicity asked Lance.

He nodded.

Oliver placed his hands on her shoulders, “You okay now?”

She told him, “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I saw my father being taken away in handcuffs.”

John had suggested the team grab some drinks at the place they went after the Dodger case. Felicity dealt with a lot in the past week, but as Roy and John were arguing over the City, and her fiancé was sipping his beer, she realized she would always have the family and the man that mattered most in her life.


End file.
